Posted by : Anonymous on Aug 10, 2004 - 06:37 PM General

HP has confirmed that it is planning to acquire UK services firm Synstar in a deal believed to be valued at around $160m.
If the purchase is approved by share holders and regulators, HP will be able to significantly boost its European services arm, allowing it to more effectively compete with rivals such as IBM and EDS.


Synstar has around 1,500 customers, and a direct presence in eight European countries.

It specialises in managing IT infrastructures, across desktop infrastructures and data centre environments, as well as designing and implementing IT risk management strategies.

Reports at the weekend speculated that Synstar would likely be merged into HP's technology solutions group, if the deal gets the green light.
HP says Merrill Lynch has made an offer on its behalf to acquire 'the entire issued and to be issued, capital of Synstar'.